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Chapter 17

Kieran learned quickly under Arthur's instructions.

The man already knew how to fire a revolver. When Arthur'd told folks at the camp that he was planning to train the kid, there were no protests. Dutch even looked on with some faint approval, no doubt thinking that Arthur was wishing to feel his self-made legacy. Truth be told, Arthur wasn't planning to allow the man out of his sight-not with the threats of the O'Driscolls taking him again.

They may be lost and misdirected without Colm's presence, but it was likely that they were leading into a whole other bunch of shit. Maybe, with the bodies of so many members of the gang, Milton and the Pinkertons would tighten their hold over them this time 'round.

Arthur had 100% trust in Kieran. The kid was a good one who should have earned that the last time the moment he'd saved Arthur's life. The only problem was Arthur had been a cold son of a bitch who only softened up through time, but Kieran hadn't been able to see that.

This time around, the two had connected instantly.

When Mary-Beth was off with Tilly, Arthur had taken the opportunity to bond with Kieran, treating him like another brother.

It was odd to think that he had bonded with an O'Driscoll. Arthur Morgan once would have punched someone in the face or swung someone himself if they'd told him that he would ever do that.

The bottles settled up in the abandoned ranch were used for his training.

Much to Arthur's amusement, the younger man was actually landing his shots, unlike Sean.

Sean.

The pain sent through his chest again when he'd thought 'bout half of his brains blown out in Rhodes.

Damn, he'd missed that Irish bastard.

He actually been planning to go after him soon, but Hosea had prevented him.

"Hey, Arthur," Hosea said, walking up, notably smiling at the form of Kieran shooting another beer bottle. "This reminds me of the days-"

Arthur sighed and waved a hand in a dismissive gesture, "Not this again."

"I don't know why you're always so embarrassed 'bout those times, son." Hosea said with a knowing grin.

"I was a foolish boy back then. Those days are over now." It was some of the GOOD memories that they have. But whenever Hosea mentioned them, Arthur'd felt embarrassed. One time, he told the whole camp 'bout Arthur climbing a tree and not being able to get back down that it required Dutch to climb the tree himself to recover the lost boy.

For weeks, Mac and Davey didn't let him live it down.

He'd liked Kieran, but the last he needed was the former O'Driscoll having some ways to tease him. While the boy was helplessly scared of disappointing him, or anyone else, which helped with the story 'bout him being a slave to Colm, the man could easily be teasing on his best days.

"Unfortunately," Hosea smiled, "you really gotta gain appreciation for them days."

"Maybe when my bones are whittled like some people," Arthur played along.

"You're still joking 'bout my age, boy?" Hosea scolded half-heartedly. "You really gotta gain an appreciation for your elders, son."

"I got 'bout the highest appreciation for you, old man," Arthur replied sincerely, "but only when you shut your trap and stop being a nuisance."

"Oh, what fun would that be?" The older man snickered and poked him in the ribs. "Gotta keep you and Dutch on your toes. You need my parental presence. Without me, who knows what type of mess you all would get in?"

Oh, if only he knew...

"I can only imagine the amount of trouble that Dutch would get in," he sarcastically remarked with half-truths.

"Can we talk about that?" Hosea inquired, gripping his shoulder and leading him away. "There seems to be a tension there between you two, and while I don't want to think it's your fault, I actually wanted to ask you is there something about Dutch that I should know?"

Yet again, the temptation to tell the old man the truth rose again. Maybe, the older man could reason to Dutch...

Yet again, he saw Heidi McCourt.

Her claims Dutch ain't able to be saved.

It was a goddamn dream, even though it felt more like a memory.

How did he know he'd seen Heidi McCourt and not just him going insane?

This sometimes felt like a dream too. Was this real?

"Micah." Contempt leaked into his tone. It should be a sign of what type of trouble the rat bastard entailed when he and Bill left Lenny to swing. Last time around, the kid had no choice but to leave the more experienced and troublemaker son of a bitch.

Arthur didn't even have to elaborate, for Hosea jumped on. "Yea, fair enough, I often think the same. Micah is an opportunist. I can just see it. He doesn't care 'bout nobody here. He just wants to survive. If it was my choice, he would have never been allowed here." Hosea replied, clenching his hands up into fists. Unfortunately, none of them could kick him out. There was no reason to do so, and Micah hadn't given them any reason that would sound excusable to Dutch.

What grated on Arthur's nerves was the fact that each of his signs of showing his true colors could be passed with simple explanations, and mainly, reinforcements from Dutch.

But that wasn't just it. He didn't like how the man continued to deny them chances for an out and only a few were questioning where things were heading. "And I don't like how Dutch continues to do shit and justify them with the fact that we're going to all get out."

The old man's lips curled up into a smile, replacing the frown of exasperation. "My little boy finally left the bar and unleash his wings."

"Hush, old man," he rolled his eyes.

The conversation ended there, but Hosea didn't leave. His eyes flickered between him to Kieran still shooting at the newly placed logs behind them.

"Are you just going to just stand there?" he asked with dry humor. "What do you have to tell me anyway? I'm sure this is 'bout all that bullshit with Mica-"

"I wanna go out hunting with you. The Legendary Bear. They call it. A big Monster, I call it." Hosea got straight to the point. Ah, Arthur hadn't considered that trip. With the lack of Arthur going with Uncle and women to town to cause trouble, he didn't even think it was going to still occur this time 'round.

"Alright," he nodded, glad to take him up on that offer. Again.

"But-" he stopped and turned back around, facing Kieran who just shot off four other logs. His shooting was still next to nothing when it came to the likes of Arthur, Micah, and Dutch. "I want to bring Kieran along."

He ain't trust Javier and Micah not to harass the boy while gone.

"Alright, the more the merrier. Let's go."

Arthur shouted, "Kieran! Come on, boy, let's go!"

Kieran, ever the jumpy one, responded with slight hesitation. "Ye-yes, sirs."

Arthur and Kieran followed Hosea up to Silver Dollar, Ryan, and Branwen. Ready, they pulled on the reins and took off, making their way out of camp.

"I reckon this monster is nearly a thousand pound."

"A thousand pounds?!" Kieran shrieked. "Monster?!"

"It ain't nothing, kid, trust me," Arthur reassured.

"Sure, we know, Arthur Morgan took on more," Hosea snickered before nodding at Kieran who didn't look a bit assured. "You'll be alright, kid, stay behind us and just watch."

"You stay behind Hosea, you'll probably end up deform. You stay behind me, you'll be alright."

Hosea scoffed. "In my opinion, experience outranks everything, Arthur."

"Shaky hands can't though," Arthur grinned.

"You could sell that horse in Valentine." Hosea pointed out as Arthur's horse scoffed.

"Nah, I like this one," he responded, patting him on the neck. "Kieran's starting to make progress with this one. The kid's good with horses."

He shrugged, "Eh, if you ever change your mind, they got a good range of horse tack, some beautiful saddles. I used to have a real nice one before it got stolen outside that saloon in Deer Creek."

"That was quite a day," Arthur snorted.

"Yes. You remember? Mac went crazy, threatened to kill the whole town. And Davey was passed out so cold we left him there, came back in the next day and he woke up, started right back drinking again."

"Honestly, I miss them all. It must be pretty hard on Lenny. You tell he was sweet on her."

"Well, Lenny and Jenny could have never worked out. That's like Arthur and Martha, or Bill and Phil."

Arthur shrugged, "Eh, I don't know. I believe it could have worked." After seeing John and Abigail come back together at the end, he could have seen Lenny and Jenny. "It would take time and effort but the two had a good bond."

"Probably. We'll never know now." Hosea responded solemnly.

"In some ways, I'm glad Cornwall's robbery failed."

"Failed in one way at least," a slight scoff, "but yeah I agree. I have a feeling it would come back to bite us. Don't tell Dutch that."

"I won't," Arthur promised.

Soon enough they arrived in Valentine. It was just as John remembered it and how Hosea described it, full of 'mud and morons'. The only thing decent the town had was the saloon and even that wasn't great with the amount of buffoons in it dedicated to testing one's patience.

"I will be at the general store, get a few things to lure that bear out with. Anything you want, son?"

"In fact, we'll join you." He'd 'ought to get something for little Jackie anyway and Kieran too to ease him throughout this process so that no harm would be brought to him.

Hitching up their horses, they entered the store.

He'd noticed a few others were inside. A man standing at the corner, grabbing some hunting equipment, it seemed.

"Kieran, get some fishing supplies for later," Arthur stated.

"But I don't got the mone..."

He was pretty sure he was the only one who would roll his eyes with his entire body, "Obviously, I'm buying, boy."

Folks gotta be so stupid sometimes...

Arthur meanwhile grabbed three chocolate bars. Hopefully, Marston would be the one doing this soon goddamn it. He looked over at Hosea who came to his side, and he took Arthur's silence as a means to explain himself.

"Meat... berries. Stuff that bears like." Hosea elaborated.

"Got a few good snacks for Jackie."

At that, Hosea became bemused, "Usually, you would find ways to mock John 'bout Jack."

"Yes," he replied regretfully, reminded of the person he used to be. "John doesn't deserve that boy, but I talked to him. Reminded him of his past. Maybe I got through to him."

Hosea looked with pride. "Blackwater really humbled you, huh?"

"This again," Arthur groaned. He purchased the chocolate bars, storing them in his pockets for when he would return to camp.

Hosea threw his hands up innocently, "Alright, alright, I'm just saying. The change is so sudden and abrupt. One moment, you were a sworn follower of Dutch, cold, distant, uncaring. Now, you're just... different, more compassionate, calmer, friendlier."

Arthur beamed at the praise, but it didn't last for long.

"I was always compassionate and friendly," he said, chipper.

"Sean wouldn't think so," Hosea scoffed.

"And Sean is so reliable," Arthur quipped.

He laughed.

The two left the general store.

At that moment, he'd spotted commotion nearby and saw the doors to the bars slamming open, a result of a black boot kicking against it. He tossed the man out and glared at him.

"And don't come back!" The man barked in a warning tone, glaring at him. Tommy turned around and walked back inside.

The man groaned and glared up in his direction, "That's all you got, you fat fuck?!" But he didn't give chase. Arthur meanwhile arched his eyebrows. It was odd to see Tommy again, not the mess that he had become due to brain damage.

That thought filled him with guilt. Defended himself and Javier he may have, but the thing was no one deserved to be placed in that sort of condition. No one. Not even Arthur's worst enemy. Death was far more painless and merciful. It wasn't right what he did, he could admit, and he would wish to atone for it-even if none of them would know what he had done to his fellow men in a different life.

The many onlookers stared, no doubt having hoped for a brawl, but when one didn't come aside from the man scowling at them, they all turned away.

One approached behind him. "Excuse me, mister, while I was getting supplies for the mistress, I couldn't help but overhear your conversation," one of the men inside of the store said, "bears are in the area?"

Something 'bout the man was familiar, but he couldn't recall his voice. "Yes, to the O'Creagh's Run, in the Grizzlies East."

"Damn, thanks for the warning." the man chuckled. "I plan to deliver these supplies to my wife." he became thoughtful. "You're going to go after it?"

"Well, yeah, you gonna tell the law?" Arthur asked, not wanting to get into some trouble or whatnot with some common dogooder.

"Oh, I doubt the law would care." he shrugged. "Though you should be careful, mister, even I know when not to hunt them goddamn massive beasts. You got a death warrant or something?"

Arthur shrugged, "You could say that."

The man looked at him and snickered. "Now, the mistress can leave me alone 'bout my own insanity when I tell her 'bout three men going off to hunt claws."

"Who are you?" He asked, shaking his head. He really, really, didn't know what was going on. Nothing like this had happened before…

The man looked at him and responded, the smile still on his lips.

"Cal Balfour."